Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Tenants fight back against rent increases and win relocation assistance

Not long before Christmas, Sound Mental Health (SMH), the propertymanagers of downtown Seattle's Kasota apartments, began going door to doorin the building trying to get tenants to sign a new lease. SMH houses bothmentally ill 'clients' and roughly seventeen low-income tenants at theKasota, but the new lease seemed to indicate that they wanted that tochange. The terms of the new lease for SMH's non-client tenants includedrent increases of as much as fifty percent as well as a demand for furtherdeposits. Many of the low-income residents of the Kasota are dependent onSocial Security and other fixed incomes for survival and cannot afford topay rent increases of this magnitude. They were outraged as it becameapparent that the terms of the new lease would drive them from their homesand out into the street. For many residents the new lease would meandesperation and homelessness. It was at this point that one tenant saw aSeattle Solidarity Network (SeaSol) poster and decided to start fightingback.

In their first meeting with SeaSol the tenants decided that if SMH wantedthem out of the Kasota so badly, they would make a pact: unless and untileach and every one of them has received adequate relocation assistance,none of them will pay the increased rent or voluntarily vacate thebuilding. Most felt that relocation would be the best solution as theKasota had gone downhill ever since SMH took over in spring of 2009. SMHhad failed to make long promised improvements to the apartments, and therehad been two fires and one flood during that time. While the tenants makeit clear that they hold nothing against their neighbors, they do resentthe fact that SMH has repeatedly failed to provide them with safe livingconditions.

On December 28th eight Kasota tenants and twenty-two other SeaSol'ersformally delivered the tenants' demand in mass at SMH's offices on CapitolHill. Two days later SMH posted notices on every tenant's door promisingto make much needed repairs, draw up new leases which would not raise therent by more than 10%, and consider providing relocation assistance.Despite these conciliatory promises, the very next day SMH celebrated NewYears Eve by retaliating against the tenants who had decided to fightback. SMH posted three-day Pay or Vacate notices on many tenants' doors,even though only a few of them actually owed any back rent. It seemed thatSMH was moving to reconcile with one hand while reaching out to stranglewith the other. Nonetheless, the tenants stood strong and told SMH to stopthese intimidation tactics immediately and begin negotiating in goodfaith, or they would have to take further action in conjunction withSeaSol.

Sound Mental Health seems to have realized it had to take the tenants'unity seriously. On January 14th, in a letter delivered to KasotaApartments residents and to media, SMH announced that it would fully meetthe tenants' and SeaSol's demands. Any non-SMH-client resident who wantsto move out of the building will receive $3,000 in relocation assistance.Any who choose to stay will see a rent increase of no more than 10% overthe next year.

This is a huge victory for the low-income tenants at the Kasota who hadbeen facing $200 rent hikes and, until a few days ago, were under threatof eviction and in danger of homelessness. Most plan on moving as soon aspossible, now that they'll have the money to afford it.

Their victory took courage, as they kept fighting in the face of evictionthreats and intimidation. It also took unity, as they insisted on stickingtogether when management tried to divide them and deal with eachindividual separately. They couldn't have done it alone. Thanks toeveryone who came out on December 28th to help the Kasota tenants - andSeaSol - win this fight.

SeaSol is a mutual support network of workers and tenants who use directaction to fight injustices caused by their employers and landlords. If youhave a problem with your job or housing, or you want to help others intheir fights, maybe you should contact... Seattle Solidarity Network.www.seasol.net